This book was enjoyable enough, but not primarily a romance. It seemed to be more about the MC exploring and accepting her identity and then the romance was secondary to the story. Because of this, outside of the MC, the rest of the characters ring a little empty, more general archetypes than actual participants in the story.

In "Queerly Beloved", readers are introduced to Amy, who undergoes personal trials and tribulations throughout this story. The first begins as the story begins, with Amy working for a Christian bakery and hiding the truth about herself. As the story continues, the reader is taken on Amy's journey as she figures out what is her truth and how to love her truth. I enjoyed the friendships in this story and the realness to them. While there is some romance in "Queerly Beloved", I found the main focus to be on Amy and her personal growth. I enjoyed every moment of this story but I would suggest not reading it on an empty stomach with the various dessert and food descriptions! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

(This review was shared on my personal IG account @elizabeth.ann03 on 6/29/2022 along with Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookbub and Barnes and Noble)

Although it was a really awesome premise, the story overall missed the mark for me. I did really enjoy the characters but felt that this story was not a love story. While Amy did find herself in the process, the romance between her and Charley was just not there.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5 Stars
🌶🌶 2/5 Steam Rating
📝 3rd Person POV, Sapphic Romance, with many LBGTQ representation

At first I questioned why this book was based in 2013, until I really got into the meat of this story. The main conflict of this story is Amy’s emotional struggle being a bridesmaids-for-hire, when she and her queer friends cannot marry in their conservative state of Oklahoma. These character’s struggles really hit home with the unknown ramifications of Roe v Wade now being overturned recently. It brought to light some interesting views on weddings as well.

I do want to mention that I went into this book thinking it would have more of a romance element to it, but I was pleasantly surprised that it highlighted a lot of equality issues, especially within the Bible Belt. Overall, this book had a good balance of romance and societal issues, with an amazing group of found family. The story was engaging, entertaining, and moved at a great pace.

I want to take a moment to remind everyone to look at the triggers of this book before reading it. Although Amy has a great group of friends and a supportive mother, the environment that this book takes place in is quite homophobic.

I had to dnf this at about 25% because the homophobia was just not something I could handle putting myself through. I understand this was set in the south as well as being mid 2010’s but I just found being fired for being gay so harmful and upsetting to see in a new release. Please I just need more books about queer joy and I feel like this could have easily been a hit for me if not for this.

I’m not sure this book is actually a romantic comedy. The pacing feels off even though the premise is pretty good. Many chapters in and the main characters had only been on page together once.

C U T E! disclaimer: I received an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion. I really couldn’t put this book down. I read it in 2 days because I was addicted to finding out what happened next. While a bit on the cheesy, predictable side… the journey Amy takes through this book is heartwarming. The look into life as a queer individual in a red state is thought provoking— and the journey of an individual having to come out to people over and over throughout life is well told through this lens. def will recommend, the epilogue is too stinkin good.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

Excellent book and the story.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC of Queerly Beloved, out everywhere now!

I felt a little conflicted reading this to be honest. The premise of this book is that Amy, a lesbian baker living in Tulsa, Oklahoma is fired from her job after being outed and starts a new line of work as a "professional bridesmaid." I thought the concept sounded cute and fun, and though I was surprised the book wasn't really a romcom I didn't necessarily mind that.

This book mostly failed for me for a couple reasons though. First, the book is set in 2013, before Obergefell. But you wouldn't have any clue that was true based on the dialogue of the characters! I found this book had a lot of continuity issues - as if the author wrote this set in 2022 and then just dropped it into 2013 pre-marriage equality. For instance, characters kept introducing themselves by their pronouns, which absolutely was not a prominent thing back in 2013. Another example was the use of the word "queer" - while that definitely was in the lexicon of the LGBT+ community back in the day, I do not think it was used with as much frequency as the author did in this book, calling everything "queer community," "queer bar," "queer person," etc. So the timeline was a little wonky for me.

Second, I just really did not like the protagonist. Other reviewers have mentioned that Amy came off as pretty self-centered despite the constant description of "selfless" being bestowed upon her. She was a bit complain-y for me and also I didn't really understand the chemistry between her and the love interest, Charley (she said she loved her after like 4 dates despite like never talking about real things...?). The other big thing for me was I didn't have a ton of empathy for her being essentially fully closeted. Hear me out on this. I am not saying that anyone should ever have to come out to someone they don't want to or put their jobs on the line or anything like that. And I recognize that Tulsa in 2013 was probably quite conservative. But Amy, despite having allegedly come out in high school and is now in her mid-20s, can't even remotely deal with her queerness in spaces that aren't her house or a lesbian bar, and that isn't good rep IMO. I felt like this was straddling a line of having a character that was definitely still 90% closeted and dealing with her sexuality while trying to play her off as this "out and proud" lesbian, which had some dissonance for me. I'm not trying to be too harsh here, I get that coming out is weird, but this felt like it had a loooot of internalized homophobia that it just didn't really deal with. And as someone who was out in 2013, I just think there's a slight difference between being subtle with PDA so you don't get hate crimed and like fully pretending you're straight in any environment where there are straight people.

So, all in all, this was a little unsuccessful for me, which I was bummed about because the premise was kind of cute.

I can't rave enough about this book. Listed as a "Queer Romance" it wouldn't have been a first pick for me because that's not a category I specifically seek out as a straight woman. I am SO glad NetGalley chose me to review this book because it's AMAZING. Susie Dumond is an amazing writer. This is a fantastic book that just happens to beer Queercentric. Clearly, it's a romance novel but there was such a good storyline taking part in the not too recent past (I kept trying to remember myself in 2013 and the music and pop culture references helped so much). Seeing the epilogue taking place a year from current times continues to keep me hopeful that we will continue to create more rights for my own Queerly Beloved in my family.

⭐️⭐️ 1/2 (rounding up to ⭐️⭐️⭐️)

This is a book I WANTED to love... In general, I think there's an outrageous lack of F/F romance, so I'm always excited to read that dynamic (especially from an Own Voices, LGBTQ+ author). While there were a number of good ideas in this book, I don't think many of them were fully-developed (that applies to the plot, characters, and theme).

Judging by the cover and the first 3-4 chapters of the book, we're led to think that Amy's passion is baking. That perhaps after being unjustly fired because of her sexuality maybe she'll go on to open a bakery of her own. One that caters to the (apparently) thriving LGBTQ+ community in Tulsa, OK? One that attracts an open-minded clientele? Nope. Instead, Amy pivots from her losing her job at the bakery to... becoming a "professional" bridesmaid. Huh... That's not to say I don't like that idea, in general. Because I do! I've read a few "bridesmaid for hire" romances and really enjoyed them. I think leaning into the bridesmaid plot line OR the bakery plot line might've worked, but it almost felt like two different books. Both... half-baked.

I wish I had great things to say about the romance itself, but again, there's not much there - which was surprising considering the fact that Amy and Charley begin their courtship very early into the book. We never get a full sense of who Charley is. Having a single POV definitely doesn't add to that either. I won't even mention Amy's best friends who more or less are stereotypical "gay best friend" characters whose sole purpose is to advise Amy.

Overall, there were a lot of pieces that I really liked... but I don't think they all fit into the same puzzle. I'll be curious to see what Susie Dumond writes next...

I adored this book! 5 cheers for this Queer HEA with a loveable, awesome MC. This book made me happy and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

This was a bit of a letdown. I was hoping for a cute gay romance but it just didn't work for me. I feel like Amy was kind of all over the place, like I never really could pin down who she was, and the rest of the characters felt underdeveloped. I think some of the social norms were too progressive for a book supposedly set in 2013 (folks were not using pronouns in introductions then). And this didn't feel like much of a romance to me. I couldn't buy into that plot. Kind of the definition of fine, not great.

This book really didn’t work for me. I really wanted this to be a lot cozier than it was, but it’s set in 2013 at a Christian bakery and also the love interest has literally no personality (and it’s single POV so she doesn’t get better). It was not a romcom, even though I feel like the cover implied that it was going to be, and I didn’t really enjoy any of the characters. Two and a half stars, rounded up for NetGalley.

Amy, a semi-closeted queer baker and bartender in mid-2010s Oklahoma, has spent a lifetime putting other people’s needs before her own. Until, that is, she’s fired from her job at a Christian bakery and turns her a one-off gig subbing in for a bridesmaid into a full-time business—thanks to her baking talents, crafting skills, and years watching rom-coms and Say Yes to the Dress. Between her new gig and meeting Charley, the attractive engineer who’s just moved to Tulsa, suddenly Amy’s found something— and someone—she actually wants.

Her tight-knit group of chosen family is thrilled that Amy is becoming her authentic self. But when her deep desire to please kicks into overdrive, Amy’s precarious balancing act strains her relationships to the breaking point, and she must decide what it looks like to be true to herself—and if she has the courage to try.

I wanted to like this book so much more. I really enjoyed the found family aspect, the relationships Amy had with her mother, Max, and Greg, and the discussions about gay marriage. I appreciated the personal growth Amy experienced throughout the book, but ultimately, I think this could have done with some more editing. The pacing of this story made the first 70 percent very slow, and while the last 30 percent was redeeming and enjoyable, I wish some of the earlier content had been edited out.

I think the genre Queerly Beloved is categorized under is confusing too. While billed as a romcom, I think it's more accurately contemporary or queer fiction. I struggled to feel any chemistry between Amy and Charley after their insta-love meeting, and with Charley's hot and cold nature and the romance being largely discarded for big chunks of the book, I often forgot about Charley until Amy mentioned her again. I also felt like we got very little character development for Charley, which I think might have helped me connect with her more.

While I loved the bridesmaid-for-hire plotline, enjoyed the connection Amy made with Regi, and loved how Amy grew and learned more about herself as the book went on, I wish there hade been more of that spread throughout the book instead of crammed into the last 30 percent.

I would definitely read more by this author because I think she has a lot of promise, and I'm glad I tried this one out, but overall, this one was just okay for me.

Thank you so much to @netgalley @thedialpress and @prhaudio for my gifted galley and complimentary audiobook copy of Queerly Beloved.

#PrideReads #QueerlyBeloved #TheDialPress #LoveIsLove #LGBTQRomance #LoverOfBooks #GottaRead #ABookADay #ILiveToRead #CantStopWontStopReading #NoseInABook #Pride #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #readingmama #momswhoread #bookish #bibliophile #bookworm #wearebookish #pridemonth #bookreadinggirls #bookstabuddies #debutauthor #readersofinstagram #readers #readersofinsta #readersgonnaread

I went into this book with pretty much no expectations other than I wanted to love it. I did not. But I didn’t absolutely hate it.

Some moments between the two mains were just awkward to read but I’m a pretty awkward person myself so I didn’t mind those bits. My biggest issue with this book was a lack of character development over time.

I live near Tulsa and thought it was a great setting which is part of why I wanted to love this one. It’s always cool when a nearby area is featured in a book you’re reading. Alas, this one was not a hit for me but it may be a hit with the right person!

Amy is a semi-closeted queer baker living in a small conservative town in mid-2010s Oklahoma. After she’s fired from her job at a Christian bakery for her “lifestyle”, she is desperate for money and starts a business as a bridesmaid for hire. She’s keeping herself busy between her bridesmaid adventures and her new romance with Charley who is new in town. But can she manage to keep balancing all of these new additions to her life along with her pre-existing friendships?

Since this book is set in 2013, it was really interesting to see how the court decisions around marriage equality were addressed in this book. I loved seeing how the different characters were feeling and it really brought up some interesting points and made me think about how things have (or in some cases have not) changed in the last decade. I appreciated that in this regard, this book ended up being really informative.

Amy started out feeling really immature and pretty unlikeable in the beginning of the story, but by the end her growth and her experiences made me root for her. I love a good baking romance so I loved that she was a baker and the bridesmaid for hire plotline was so much fun. I didn’t love how Amy and Charley handled their relationship - the lack of communication felt a bit immature at times. However, despite not loving the main characters I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a good balance of fun and informative.

Thank you to Dial Press for the advance copy.

I thought Amy’s whining was selfish and annoying at times. I totally can see where she came from because I think it’s unfair that marriage isn’t legal for everyone but the way she was so def absorbed was awful.

And at one point I thought I’d rather see her find love unexpectedly with McKenzie and would have preferred that over Charlie because of her quick and sort of needy obsession with her.

Loved the Uncles And her supportive Mom. Listening to the audio with so many side characters made it a little confusing and hard to keep track of who was who at points.

Thank you for Queerly Beloved in exchange for my honest review.

Based on the synopsis and the cover, I had high hopes for this book. Who doesn’t love a good LGBTQ story where the main character finds herself? Also, the setting (Oklahoma) was a perfect statement that people can do what they want anywhere in the United States, no matter how close minded the majority of the state may be. All of these were things I thoroughly enjoyed.
However, the writing style was a little boring for me and I felt at times that I was unable to connect with the main character.

Queerly Beloved takes place in Oklahoma sometime in the early 2010s. I’m guessing the year is in the early 2010s since same-sex marriage was legalized in 2014 in Oklahoma. At the time that the book is set, same-sex marriage is not recognized in any way.

Amy is a baker at The Daily Bread, a Christian Baker. Amy is in the closet at work but out of the closet everywhere else. Her boss, Donna, at the bakery, is a homophobe. When Donna finds out that Amy is a lesbian, she fires Amy. Donna fires her and gives her a lecture about how being gay is a sin. Donna is the worst. Since 2020, it is illegal to fire someone based on their sexual orientation.

Closeted Amy is much different than Proud Amy. However, we don’t really see Proud Amy very often until the end of the book. Closeted Amy is holding on to old habits of hiding her true self. Amy begins a new service to help bridesmaids but she is still hiding her LGBT+ status. Of course, she doesn’t have to tell anyone but it doesn’t seem healthy to keep a big secret from everyone.

Amy meets Charley. They fall in love. They fall out. They almost make amends. Charley is alright but I’m not her biggest fan. Amy is so sweet and kind but Charley spends most of her time being a distant weirdo. Why are you such a weirdo Charley? Eventually, the reader will find out why Charley is so distant.

If you like books about food and trying to figure out how to be really, really out of the closet. It takes a brave soul to be all of the way out.

If you are suffering or making others suffer from homophobia like Donna, then you won’t appreciate this book. Please seek help for your phobia.